Monday, November 12

On “Family Planning” (Part 2)

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Last June 24 on the occasion of the solemnity of the birth of St. John the Baptist, Pope Benedict XVI called on the Church, its bishops, clergy and all Catholic faithful laypeople - - “to witness to the truth without compromise”!

We were exhorted not to be afraid to “denounce transgressions of God's commandments”, in the same manner that John the Baptist bore witness to the truth even at the eventual cost of his life.

Almost two years ago on January 29, 2006 at the start of Archbishop Angel N. Lagdameo's accession as President of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines, all the bishops endorsed a joint Pastoral Statement signed by Archbishop Lagdameo. Among others it said (with my emphasis added):

“As bishops, we believe that at the bottom of our political chaos is a crisis of moral values, a crisis of truth and justice....”

“Its external manifestations are deceit and dishonesty, corruption, manipulation and a deadening preoccupation with narrow political interests, perceived in practically all branches and at all levels of government. Because of the moral dimensions behind such a political and economic morass in our country, the bishops reiterated that “the Church has something to say about specific human situations”. They further quoted Papa Bene's exhortation (Truth, Peace No. 5) that “the problem of truth and untruth is the concern of every man and woman.”

Two Sundays ago, good old Papa Bene again zeroed in on the “modern hypocrisy” of false tolerance nay, even nonchalant acceptance of contemptuous anti-Catholic diatribes against the supposed ”arcane and rigid morality” of Catholicism.

The Pope even called for “martyrdom” in the ordinary lives of Catholics particularly as courageous witnesses against the “secularized societies of our own time.”

Thus I have gone to great lengths in establishing the basic premises of this piece of mine - - that we ordinary Catholic laypeople have the duty and also the explicit marching orders from the Papacy and our own Catholic Hierarchy, TO FIGHT IN DEFENSE of our CHRISTIAN VALUES. Particularly, that should therefore include those contemptuous attacks by politicians and the secular media, such as the Philippine Star editorial of last Saturday November 10.

It is with these basic premises in mind that my series of blog articles on Family Planning are being written and will be shared with my fellow Catholics of goodwill wherever they may be.